Adam, this seems less like the President standing up to oil to me, and more that environmental protection is a happy benefit of preserving the payroll tax, which has much more political weight. To me, this so accurately exmplifies what Obama *always* does on energy, which is avoid, avoid, avoid. Or, sidestep and subtly address. I am still waiting to hear Obama's "core message"- from his mouth; I don't know if he shares your values, above. I agree that your top 7 bullets should be priorities, but I don't trust Obama to execute on any of them. Too cynical?

Rod, I'm hearing you don't like him, you think he is arrogant, you think he is incompetent, but I am searching for a record of specific things he has done *wrong*. I've read a number of articles on this now and still don't understand what all the hubub is about.

Dan, what does "Jaczko's erratic tenure" mean? I noticed that language in Issa's complaint letter, but it didn't point to specific things that have been done wrong. This feels like a hit job… sounds like Jaczko has made the wrong political and professional enemies, but no specific wrongdoing has been cited. He's the chairman… he is bucking the establishment, and paying for it. His position has latitude; the letter to Congress instigating this apology is basically a mutiny, no? What did you think when you met him?

Thanks Geoff- that makes a lot of sense and are good points & clarification of these terms. To your last point re "big difference between not having the oil and having it but choosing to leave it in the ground", it seems like the Obama admin has specialized in ducking this particular policy choice, re KXL decision avoidance.

Hey Steve- thank you for your comment. This was an interview; my questions are in italics, this is not my analysis. I haven't checked with Siemens, but I presume that nuclear was not omitted on purpose or that any meaning should be inferred from the omission. In my opinion, nuclear is going to be an important part of the energy mix in the future if we want to slow or mitigate climate change.